Question: Egg identification

Orange Juice

Orange Juice

New member
Joined
Mar 7, 2010
Messages
62
Reaction score
1
Points
0
Location
Connecticut
Country
United States
There are two types of eggs I aquired,

The first one,
1 greenish tint to the egg
2 seem a little larger
3 found on plants in clumps

The second one,
1 regular white egg
2 smaller than First one
3 found almost free floating in clumps

the only animals in the pond, tadpoles, N.V.V, and guppies
I am sure they are salamander eggs, off the developing guide.
I cannot take pictures, they are covered with a small coat of dirt so they look grey (not white, GRAY) they are developing, I got them From Vermont, th white one looks kind of like spotted salamander eggs.:frog:
 
I just did some research on the spotted salamander and found that Oophila amblystomatis or whatever made the eggs green, I think I got some spotted newt eggs.
 
Did you gather the eggs from the wilderness? Why not simply gather the adults and not bother with the hassle of eggs, especially if the eggs you take are from an endangered species.

On top of that, your last run-in with eggs didn't go very well and you are still a novice the proper care for eggs and larvae, I don't want to sound rude or anything but I just don't understand why you gathered the eggs instead of the easily identified and cared for adults (a bad generalization, I realise that many newts and sals are difficult to raise properly).

The more I read your posts the less and less I can comprehend.
 
Last edited by a moderator:
Sounds to me like egg mass #1 is Ambystoma maculatum and egg mass #2 is Rana sylvatica (Wood frog).
 
shmifty5 said:
Did you gather the eggs from the wilderness? Why not simply gather the adults and not bother with the hassle of eggs, especially if the eggs you take are from an endangered species.
Click to expand...
This is backwards. Collecting eggs has much LESS impact on wild populations than collecting adults. This is true even if you take a much greater number of eggs than you would adults. Every salamander that lives to maturity is the "cream of the crop" - it is the 1 in a thousand that was the most fit and most successful. Thus removing an adult removes the very best from the gene pool and cuts off many years of potential reproduction.
 
Last edited by a moderator:
Ok, I only took about 3 green and 2 white, nothing to freak out about as there was atleast enough, if they all lived to pass around to almost everyone here, yeah that much. The reason the eggs did not go so well last time was that they weren't fertile, had i known this i would've got diff. ones. These ones were a little more or less through a week of development.

GreatwtehunterRe: Egg identification
Sounds to me like egg mass #1 is Ambystoma maculatum and egg mass #2 is Rana sylvatica (Wood frog).

hmmmm... Wood Frog? Are you sure? I still think they are N.V.V because I heard absolutely no frogs and saw no frogs only tad poles, I'm almost sure I got some spotted though...
Let me describe this a bit better to you all,
The GREEN eggs were found in a drying puddle where last time it was full of water/ critters, I moved them into a larger pool, took about 2-3 that were developing, took a little more walk and found these other WHITE eggs in a small trickling stream, they were under water and the water was not fast. all around them were those water skater things, and Green algae, absouletly nothing else at all in that pond, and i looked really hard. I capped the green/white eggs so that you wouldn't get mixed up
 
Ok I don't think it is a frog, it is not a wood frog, none of the tadpoles even looked remotely close to a wood frog tadpole, which they would have had because earlier on up there i found the same kind, and all of the tadpoles look the same...
 
really? im surprised that the eggs wouldn't be more valuable as they are each a potential animal, the adults would be very valuable as any creature is, but i just thought the eggs would be more important as they each have the possibility of creating something new, some random mutation that would make the animals more likely to survive in the wilderness and that random mutant in that random egg might not ever reach adulthood if improperly cared for, and even then it will not be able to give that special mutation to the wild populations and then it will be lost. just my 2cents, but apparentely i must be mistaken.

"If that was your goal you didn't accomplish it. "

that was definately not my goal.
 
I dont know why, but I think in the first place animals should not be collected as pet. I know all of us has our own stocks came from the natural source in some way or another or many generations ago. But I thought that taking things out from wild should not be promoted. A well educated person will know that collecting from the wild will impact the nature in someway. I fear that I might harm the wildlife even just to go out herping and take photos.

As a member of Caudata.org, I hope new members will learn that our hobby should not harm the wild population. I think one should only collect from wild either 1) a biologist/scientist (for conservation purpose), 2) uneducated (but should learn more anyway). I do will occasionally be tempted to purchase wild caught animals, but I will try all my best to get captive breed first. And if I do bought a wild caught animal, it would have been already caught by someone and I know that there is no one else in my local area that can take better care of these tailed amphibians. Furthermore, I will only allow myself to acquire a wild caught only if I know that I will be able to breed the species so that this species will become available for other hobbyists in my country.

Orange Juice, I have noticed that you have been collecting eggs last time. It seems like you are continuing your activity after the failure last time to raise the eggs. I would urge you to find captive breed animals from one of our forum members. If you are so interested in specific species available only to your local area, why don't you join some volunteer to your local conservation authority to monitor the amphibian population? Why don't you just go to the same pond every weeks to visit the amphibian population to just learn from observation and learn to appreciate nature in the wilderness than at home? Why not just go and take some photos, and share with us your findings? You can always appreciate Tailed Amphibian in a non-consumptive manners, I have been going to the same site every week during the spring seasons in the last two years just to observe them and learn them. I didn't collect a single animal or egg, and I believe this is possible for other members to do too.
 
If you take the animal out of the wild. It should not be released into the wild. So even if he raises it to an adult, its genes wouldn't likely make it back into the wild population. So if you're going to remove a newt from the wild, it could be argued that it's better to take one that has or likely will not contribute to the gene pool than an adult which is actively contributing to the gene pool. This is, I think, Jen's point.

You're right he maybe removing a random mutant, but it could a better mutation, or it could be a worse mutation. Ultimately, it is dumb luck. The best mutation maybe the one that makes the adult lay its eggs where OJ can't find them. I assure he doesn't have those eggs. That is the nature of natural selection. In a simplistic view his removal of these could just as well have helped the population, because those easily seen eggs can't contribute to the gene pool any longer.
 
Last edited:
Orange Juice said:
found almost free floating in clumps
Click to expand...

Orange Juice said:
hmmmm... Wood Frog? Are you sure? I still think they are N.V.V because I heard absolutely no frogs and saw no frogs only tad poles, I'm almost sure I got some spotted though...
Click to expand...

N. v. viridescens do not lay there eggs in clumps. They lay them singly and folded in leaves or something similar.

Wood frogs are the first frogs to breed which explains why you didn't see any other frogs. Also, the tadpoles you see there already are overwintering and are probably either bullfrogs or green frogs.
 
oh, i get it, so the adults are worth more because they can continue to create new eggs, whereas eggs can only wait to hopefully grow-up.

still tho, it would prolly be best to simply leave the eggs and adults alone as the adults create more egss and the eggs create more adults, which makes both of them important to the species.
 
Ok, I get it but before anyone else is unhappy with me I would like you to know that there were hundreds of eggs, I do not see that taking 5 tiny eggs is going to kill the environent, plus I saved these eggs in the first place! The puddle ha less than an inch of water left! Ok everyone just let them die! Let the birds eat them! And how many of those eggs do you think would've made it to adulthood? 20-30 maybe even less. This question is about identifying them ok? And for the first time with the eggs, I didn't know that I had undeveloped eggs, which is why I did more reasearch and know when it is developing. You guys come on now, I took 4 eggs out of hundreds, I saved them too. Sometimes people here can be a little irratating....
 
Ok that makes some more sense.
Wood frog? I would've never geussed that one, thanks for the info, I had assumed that the eggs were just the NVV because that's all I saw, but thanks!
 
Well, if everyone start taking a few eggs out of that hundreds, it can be a great impact. Beside, you might not be saving the eggs from the drying up of the pool. Those are vernal pools that you are collect the eggs from. That 1 inches left of water was so shallow in depth with its reason that could be beneficial to the remaining animals in that pond. And from looking into the weather forecast, there will be some good rain fall coming in in the next few days in Vermont. So, instead you might be removing the few eggs of a relatively small population that that might have survived the drought.

I would suggest you to read: "Vernal Pools: Natural History And Conservation" by Elizabeth A. Colburn, for understanding.

Orange Juice said:
Ok, I get it but before anyone else is unhappy with me I would like you to know that there were hundreds of eggs, I do not see that taking 5 tiny eggs is going to kill the environent, plus I saved these eggs in the first place! The puddle ha less than an inch of water left! Ok everyone just let them die! Let the birds eat them! And how many of those eggs do you think would've made it to adulthood? 20-30 maybe even less. This question is about identifying them ok? And for the first time with the eggs, I didn't know that I had undeveloped eggs, which is why I did more reasearch and know when it is developing. You guys come on now, I took 4 eggs out of hundreds, I saved them too. Sometimes people here can be a little irratating....
Click to expand...
 
Look i am not gonna argue, my rep is absolutely terrible already and i wish i could go back. i was arrogant. Can you please help me instead of making this a little bit of a pain? I just want ideas on idetification.
 
Well, your #2 sound like wood frogs. Anyhow, the wood frog eggs in my region (Toronto, Ontario) hatched a long time ago and I found their tadpoles grew to a good size already. I also usually see wood frog eggs being black than white.

Out of curiosity, how do you collect only a few eggs from a big clump of eggs? or you just happen to find a small clump?
 
achiinto said:
Out of curiosity, how do you collect only a few eggs from a big clump of eggs? or you just happen to find a small clump?
Click to expand...

You just pinch them off. It ain't that hard to do....
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
General chit-chat
Help Users
  • No one is chatting at the moment.
    There are no messages in the chat. Be the first one to say Hi!
    Back
    Top